A conventional connector apparatus for an IC pack or memory card includes a generally U-shaped frame having a pair of guide grooves inside each of a pair of side frame portions, with a connector section joining or extending between the side frame portions. A planar IC pack or memory card, in a rectangular card package, is inserted into the apparatus between the side frame portions within the side guide grooves. A transverse array of socket terminals on a leading face of the IC pack electrically connect to an associated array of pin terminals on the connector section.
Such connector apparatus often are provided with header connectors used for interconnecting semi-conductor or memory chips of the IC pack to a main electronic unit of a computer, for example. The header connector is used in conjunction with the IC pack or memory card for removably coupling the IC pack to a printed circuit board in the main electronic unit. The IC pack is inserted into the header connector and is extracted therefrom as needed. The extraction force of the IC pack, i.e. the force between the respective terminal pins on the header connector and the respective socket terminals of the IC pack, is relatively high due to the tight fit required to obtain a good electrical interconnection between the terminals. These terminals typically are disposed at a high density which further increases the extraction forces. Previously, when an IC pack was to be extracted from a header connector, the card was grasped by a user and simply pulled out.
However, problems have been encountered in removing IC packs from header connectors. Specifically, when the IC pack or memory card is extracted manually, considerable force may be required to overcome the fitting friction between the terminals of the header connector and those of the IC pack. In using such force, the extracting direction often is not axial or precisely perpendicular to the terminal interface, and the terminals may be damaged. Consequently, a variety of ejecting mechanisms have been incorporated in various connector apparatus, such as the header connectors, for facilitating the ejection of an IC pack from a header connector. Some ejecting mechanisms have been incorporated as integral or unitary devices fabricated as part of the connector apparatus or header connector itself. On the other hand, separate ejecting mechanisms have been provided for assembly to the header connector, such as after the header connector has been coupled to a printed circuit board.
Since a memory card or IC pack typically in the form of a relatively thin package, with the socket terminal array extending across substantially the entire leading face of the card, there is a relatively small area along the leading face of the card from which to eject the card. Accordingly, prior art ejecting mechanisms have consisted of complex multi-piece designs including springs, cams, sliders and trays, which are not only costly to inventory and assemble, but which often require special features on the memory card or IC pack itself to provide a surface or area from which to eject the card. However, according to the standards used today in the memory card industry, such as PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association), IC packs and memory cards must conform to specifications which do not include such features. Therefore, ejecting mechanisms have been designed to accommodate such standard cards. Typically, these ejecting mechanisms have effected ejection of the card from a portion of the leading face outside the socket terminal array, on one or, more often, on both sides thereof. The mechanisms which push (or pull) a memory card straight away from the header connector usually require additional components, such as a tray, in order to engage both sides of the leading face of the card outside the socket terminal array and to effect a symmetrical and mechanically effective ejection. Other ejecting mechanisms, such as the design disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/082,652 and assigned to applicants' assignee, have been designed to eliminate the tray. However, these mechanisms have ejected the memory card from one outside corner of the leading face of the memory card and therefore provide an asymmetrical ejection which may, in some circumstances, provide relatively less leverage and a greater likelihood of damaging terminals as compared to ejecting mechanisms which utilize a generally symmetrical ejection.
This invention is directed to providing a low profile, simplified and mechanically effective ejecting mechanism for an IC pack or memory card, which ejects the card along the leading face thereof inside an area defined by the socket terminal array and without the use of extraneous components typical of the prior art.